Expatriate's engagement and burnout: the role of purpose-oriented leadership and cultural intelligence

Purpose This study analyzes the impact of purpose-oriented leadership and leader cultural intelligence on engagement and burnout among expatriates undertaking long-term corporate assignments, grounded on social psychology frameworks on interpersonal bias. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted with corporate expatriates from 21 different nationalities, who work for large multinational companies and were on assignment in 23 distinct countries - including Brazil, China, Japan and the UK Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling was used to evaluate the proposed hypotheses. Findings Results indicate that leader cultural intelligence is associated with lower burnout and higher engagement among expatriates, and that purpose-oriented leadership is associated with higher expatriate engagement but not with lower burnout. Originality/value This research contributes to the field by highlighting specific leader attributes that can foster successful expatriation: cultural intelligence and purpose-oriented leadership. The study adds to knowledge on leader-follower relationships amid national and cultural diversity by pointing to actionable leader qualities that can foster expatriate engagement and prevent his/her burnout.

Automated summary

This study examines the impact of purpose-oriented leadership and leader cultural intelligence on engagement and burnout among expatriates undertaking long-term corporate assignments. Leader cultural intelligence is found to be associated with lower burnout and higher engagement, while purpose-oriented leadership is associated with higher expatriate engagement but not with lower burnout.